It’s that time of the year when I get super geeked and pumped up about another amazing issue of One Thimble (affiliate link) sewing ezine is released and about a dozen new, epic, must-have patterns are available! This issue I am particularly excited about for two reasons: one, Little Lizard King‘s Hoya dress is one of the featured patterns and two, the Urban Jungle theme is totally on point!!! I am joining along with several other bloggers and Pattern Revolution to showcase some of the great patterns included in Issue 11. Jump to the end of this post to see a collage of all the featured patterns as well as the entire blog tour schedule. Want to check out what I sewed up??? Read on…

If you’ve been following me for any period of time, you’ll see that I pretty much stick to girls clothing. It’s my home base, my niche, and definitely my comfort zone. However, I also like to stretch myself so from Issue 11, I picked to sew up a baby quilt and baby shoes for a sweet little baby boy who just entered into this world (read more about him later).

The Bear and Bunny Quilt, by Horris and Deedle, is an adorable, modern, rugby striped quilt pattern with fabulous animal applique options: bear, bunny, polar bear, and frog. I am not a quilter. Not at all. But, I really loved how simple and approachable this quilt seemed, and of course put an animal on anything and I’m there! It really was a fairly quick sew- only took a couple nights of sew-time, was great for small cuts of fabric and the applique went together easily.

I sewed up the bear option, but did it in white and greys to match the prints of the stripes…maybe he’s not a polar bear but an albino bear? Is that such a thing? Either way, he’s pretty cute! The quilt pattern is a one sized pattern- coming in at 40 x 46 inches and perfectly sized for a toddler bed and a tummy time mat for infants!

Next up was the itty bitty, adorable, Wild Things Baby Shoes from Big Little Patterns. I mean, can anything beat this ultimate level of cuteness?? The Wild Things Baby shoes comes with several animal variations: panda bear, bear, fox, bunny, raccoon, kitty and mouse and fit sizes 0-3 months to 12-18+ months. These little kicks come with traceable face details, adorable little ears to sew and come together super easy for being so tiny!

Ok so you’re totally wondering why do these items look so boyish and why baby stuff??? One of my most dearest friends, Emily, found out a few months ago that she was expecting a baby boy. Of course I was thrilled for her but then immediately had to start thinking of what cute boy patterns I could use to make baby gifts for her. I was so excited to get started on some fun baby boy projects for her, when I unexpectedly received a text that her water had broke at almost 21 weeks. She spent the next 7 1/2 weeks on bedrest in the hospital under close monitoring and sweet Gideon was born, 12 weeks early and a tough little warrior. You can read all about her amazing testimony of strength and courage in her Mother’s Day blog post here. I chose to use tribal prints for his quilt as a homage to his strong battle in his early days of life. I also used a mint green triangle print, as their last name is Green and Emily loves the color mint. Triangles represent the heart of Gideon’s family- centered in God, his parents, and his siblings. I chose to sew up the bear as the bear is known as a symbol of strength, fearlessness and power. Three characteristics already evident in this little 2 week old baby boy, carried on from his amazingly courageous parents.

I share this story only because I know there are many who can relate- sewing, especially handmade gifts, is so much more than just fabric, thread and a great pdf pattern. It’s breathing life into simple materials, creating beauty with your love and care, and handing over a little part of yourself to the recipient. I hope that in Issue 11 you are able to find great patterns, inspirational articles and motivation to step outside your comfort zone, craft something amazing with your own two hands and to bring beauty to someone else’s day.

See all 12 pdf patterns featured in Issue 11:

Follow along with the One Thimble Issue 11 Blog Tour hosted by Pattern Revolution: